Method of sending advertising messages

ABSTRACT

A method of sending advertising messages in connection with a vehicle parking system in which a mobile telephone ( 1 ) is used to commence and to terminate the parking of a vehicle and in which a telephone user sends the identity of the vehicle parking zone concerned to a receiving first computer ( 2 ) belonging to said parking system, in conjunction with the commencement and the termination of vehicle parking via the mobile telephone ( 1 ), wherein the identity of the parking zone and the telephone number of the mobile telephone ( 1 ) are detected and stored in the computer. The invention is characterised in that when a user connects himself to the parking system computer ( 2 ) by means of the mobile telephone ( 1 ) the parking system computer is caused to send the mobile telephone number and the identity of the parking zone in question, or the identity of the geographical area in which the parking zone is located, to a second computer ( 6 ) connected to a memory ( 7 ) in which the advertising messages are stored; and in that one or more advertising messages pertinent to said geographical area are caused to be sent to the mobile telephone ( 1 ) from the second computer ( 6 ).

The present invention relates to a method of sending advertisingmessages to mobile telephones.

The present invention relates more particularly to sending advertisingmessages to mobile telephones used in conjunction with the parking ofvehicles.

Swedish Patent Specification No. 9800888-1 teaches a system in which amobile telephone is used in conjunction with vehicle parking. Accordingto this patent specification, data on a cash card or like card in thepossession of the telephone user and accepted by the parking system as ameans of payment, and at least one user specific reference are stored inand tied together in a database belonging to the parking companyconcerned.

Preferably, part of the user specific reference consists of thetelephone number of the telephone to be used in conjunction with parkingof a vehicle. In this regard, the telephone number is caused to bedetected by the computer of the parking system when the telephone isconnected to a telephone number belonging to said system.

In one embodiment, the user specific reference includes a vehiclespecific reference in the form of a plastic card or corresponding datacarrier, where the reference consists in a machine-readable code carriedby the card. A vehicle specific reference may, of course, insteadconsist of the vehicle registration number.

According to this embodiment billing on the cash card concerned isvalidated, by detecting the telephone number concerned when thetelephone is connected to the parking system, said cash card being tiedto the telephone number.

The telephone is connected to the parking system by the user of themobile telephone calling a telephone number which identifies the parkingzone concerned when commencing a parking period, said telephone numberthus leading to the computer of the parking system in which the parkingzone concerned is detected.

So that a check can be carried out to ascertain whether or notcommencement of a parking period has been announced to the parkingsystem, the system may be designed to enable a car park attendant toeither read-off the registration number of the vehicle or,alternatively, said machine readable code.

An announcement via a telephone as to whether parking has been commencedand terminated respectively can thus be effected very smoothly.

One problem arising with advertising messages for products and services,and then particularly generally distributed advertising messages, isthat there is no absolute certainty that the people to which themessages are directed will receive the messages.

One example in this respect is a restaurant or a sports shop thatadvertises in the daily press in a large city or town. Although manypeople may read the advertisement, only a very few will visit therestaurant or visit the aforesaid sport shop with the intention ofpurchasing goods.

In some cases, it would be better to make local advertisements in aneffective way.

The present invention provides such a way.

Accordingly, the present invention relates to a method of sendingadvertising messages in connection with vehicle parking systems in whicha mobile telephone is used to commence and terminate parking of avehicle and where, when commencing and terminating a parking period viathe mobile telephone, the user sends the identity of the parking zoneconcerned to a receiving first computer belonging to the parking system,wherein the identity of the parking zone and the number of the mobiletelephone are detected and stored in the computer, and wherein themethod is characterised in that when a user connects to the computer ofthe parking system via his mobile telephone, the parking system computeris caused to send the mobile telephone number and the identity of theparking zone concerned, or an indication of the geographical area inwhich the parking zone is located, to a second computer connected to amemory that includes advertising messages; and in that one or moreadvertising messages relating to said geographical area are caused to besent from the second computer to the mobile telephone.

The invention will now be described in more detail with reference toexemplifying embodiments of the invention shown in the accompanyingdrawing, in which

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of devices included in a system inwhich the method is carried out.

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an arrangement for carrying outthe present invention in sending advertising messages in connection witha vehicle parking system.

As illustrated, a mobile telephone 1 is used for commencing andterminating parking of a vehicle. When parking is commenced andterminated via the mobile telephone, the user sends the identificationof the parking zone in question to a receiving first computer 2belonging to the parking system. This is effected by a base station 3belonging to a network operator receiving the telephone call andforwarding the call to the exchange or switching centre 4 of the networkoperator, which in turn directs the call to the computer 2 of theparking system. The computer 2 obtains an indication of the parking zoneconcerned, through the medium of the telephone number called by theuser. The computer 2 also detects the number of the mobile telephone,this number being stored in the computer 2. The computer 2 includes adatabase 5 in which the user information is stored for the purpose ofvalidating that parking of a vehicle has taken place and that paymenthas been paid.

When a telephone user connects to the system via his mobile telephone,the parking system computer according to the invention is caused to sendthe mobile telephone number and the identity of the parking zone inquestion, or the identity of the geographical area in which the parkingzone is located, to a second computer 6 that is connected to a memory 7in which the advertising messages are stored. In this regard, the firstcomputer 2 may be adapted to structure a given parking zone to a givengeographical area. For instance, all parking zones within a certain partof a city or town may be designated with the city area as a geographicalarea when the information is sent from the first computer 2 to thesecond computer 6. Other types of structures are, of course, possible.The intention is that the parking position of the vehicle shall bereferred to a suitably large geographical area around the vehicle, saidarea being judged as being of appropriate size for local advertising.

According to the invention, one or more advertising messages relating tothis geographical area are sent to the mobile telephone.

According to a first preferred embodiment one or more advertisingmessages are caused to be sent from the second computer 6 to the firstcomputer 2, when said second computer 6 receives a telephone number andthe identity of a geographical area. The first computer 2 is herewithcaused to transfer pertinent advertising messages to the mobiletelephone.

According to a second, alternative, preferred embodiment, the secondcomputer 6 is caused to send one or more advertising messages to themobile telephone when said second computer receives a telephone numberand the identity of a geographical area, by virtue of the secondcomputer calling the mobile telephone direct via the network operator.This call may be a separate call or may take over the existing mobiletelephone call between the mobile telephone and the first computer viasaid first computer 2.

Thus, in accordance with the present invention, when a vehicle is parkedthrough the medium of a mobile telephone, the calling person willreceive advertisements relating to shops, gas stations, restaurants,etc., all of which are located within a relatively narrow geographicalarea relative to the place where the vehicle is parked.

This significantly increases the penetrating power of theadvertisements, while the person parking the vehicle is able to readilyand quickly make use of for instance the various offers in the closevicinity of the place where the vehicle is parked.

According to one preferred embodiment, the advertising messagesconcerned are caused to be sent to the mobile telephone when the userhas connected his telephone to the first computer 2. The user willreceive the advertising messages in conjunction with commencing orterminating a parking period.

In an alternative embodiment, the advertising messages concerned arecaused to be sent to the mobile telephone as a result of the computer inquestion calling said mobile telephone. The telephone user therewithanswers in a common fashion and will then receive the advertisingmessage.

According to one embodiment, the advertising messages are audiblemessages.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the advertisingmessages are messages that are presented on the mobile telephone display8, such as so called SMS messages.

The second computer and its associated database can be owned andoperated by someone other than the operator of the parking system, forinstance an advertising company. In this case, the advertising companymay purchase from the parking company information relating to the callcoupled to the first computer and the geographical location of thevehicle. The advertising company therewith selects suitable advertisingmessages and sends these messages to the calling telephone.

To make it attractive to listen to the advertisements, the callingperson may, for instance, be given certain a rebate on his parking feein the form of a certain part of the parking fee being paid by theadvertising company, when the telephone user listens to the whole of theadvertising message. Such transactions take place between the firstcomputer and the second computer prior to the user being billed forparking of the vehicle.

The present invention thus provides a method in which advertisingmessages are received with greater certainty by people for whom they areintended.

Although the invention has been described with reference to a number ofexemplifying embodiments, it will be obvious to the person skilled inthis art that the described method can be modified. For instance, thefirst and the second computers may physically consist in one and thesame computer.

The present invention shall not therefore be considered restricted tothe aforedescribed exemplifying embodiments thereof, as variations andmodifications can be made within the scope of the accompanying claims.

1. A method of sending advertising messages in connection with a vehicleparking system in which a mobile telephone is used to commence and toterminate the parking of a vehicle and in which a telephone user sendsthe identity of the vehicle parking zone concerned to a receiving firstcomputer belonging to said parking system, in conjunction with thecommencement and the termination of vehicle parking via the mobiletelephone, wherein the identity of the parking zone and the telephonenumber of the mobile telephone are detected and stored in the computer,said method comprising the steps of: transmitting to the receiving firstcomputer belonging to the parking system by means of a mobile telephonethe identity of a vehicle parking zone; transmitting from the firstcomputer to a second computer the calling mobile telephone number and ageographical indicator representative of the identity of at least one ofthe parking zone in question and the geographical area in which theparking zone is located, wherein the second computer is connected to amemory in which advertising messages are stored; selecting from thestored advertising messages at least one advertising message relating toan entity located within a predetermined geographical area related tothe parking zone in which the vehicle has commenced a parking period;sending from the second computer to the calling mobile telephone one ormore selected advertising messages pertinent to at least one of theparking zone in question and said geographical area, whereintransmission of relevant advertising messages to the mobile telephonetakes place when the mobile telephone user connects his mobile telephoneto the first computer.
 2. A method according to claim 1, including thesteps of: transmitting advertising messages from the second computer tothe first computer when said second computer receives a telephone numberand the geographical indicator; and transmitting the advertisingmessages from said first computer to the calling mobile telephone.
 3. Amethod according to claim 1, including the steps of: transmittingadvertising messages from the second computer to the calling mobiletelephone when said second computer receives a telephone number and ageographical indicator.
 4. A method according to claim 1, wherein thetransmission of pertinent advertising messages to the calling mobiletelephone takes place in response to one of the first computer and thesecond computer calling the telephone number of the mobile telephone. 5.A method according to claim 1, wherein the advertising messages areaudible messages.
 6. A method according to claim 1, wherein theadvertising messages are in the form of messages presented on thedisplay carried by the mobile telephone.
 7. A method according the claim1, wherein the messages are SMS messages.
 8. A method according to claim1, wherein the parking system includes a plurality of geographicallydistributed parking zones, and the second computer sends to a parkingsystem user advertising messages pertinent to a parking zone that isidentified by the parking system user upon transmitting a parking zoneidentifier to the first computer by a mobile telephone call.